Africa’s Rasputin: Why Eritrea’s Isaias Afwerki Has Joined Ethiopia’s Civil War
To understand the current crisis in the Horn of Africa, most notably to what is happening in Ethiopia presently, it is imperative to comprehend Eritrea’s role and the geopolitical ambition of Isaias Afwerki.
Two prominent dictators, Omar Al Bashir and Meles Zenawi, have exited the political scene in the Horn of Africa. Still, the African Rasputin has refused to die. In 2021, he will celebrate his thirtieth year in power as the undisputed dictator of dictators, and his presence in the Horn of Africa will be neither celebrated nor commemorated. Ethiopia’s ethnic civil war will destabilize the entire region, and the Horn of Africa will welcome another failed state in its ranks with Somalia and South Sudan.
Daniel Haile is a graduate student at Texas A&M University, Bush School of Government & Public Service.
Image: Eritrea's President Isaias Afwerki receives a key from Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed during the inauguration ceremony marking the reopening of the Eritrean Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia July 16, 2018. Picture taken July 16, 2018. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri/File Photo.